BOOKSHELF
Compiled By Timothy P. Cross

Alexander Hamilton: Writings, edited with notes by Joanne B. Freeman. The Class of 1778 dropout, revolutionary leader and first Secretary of the Treasury is the first Columbian with his own volume in this series of classic American texts and authors (Library of America, $40).

The Street of the Four Winds by Andrew Lazarus ’47. In this novel, a present-day College reunion at Arden House sparks ambivalent memories in an alumnus who was involved with four women and a cast of colorful characters when he was a journalist in post-World War II Paris (Durban House, $15.95 paper).

The New Love and Sex After 60, revised edition, by Robert N. Butler ’49 and Myrna I. Lewis ’65 & ’00 Social Work. The Library Journal describes this completely revised and updated edition of the 1976 classic as “best all-around self-help sex manual for older adults”; from a psychotherapist and her husband, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Why Survive? Being Old in America (Ballantine Books, $14.95 paper).

The French Revolution by Thomas Carlyle, introduction by John D. Rosenberg ’50. In his introduction, the William Peterfield Trent Professor of English and Comparative Literature praises this 19th-century classic as having a poetry that “consists in being everywhere scrupulously rooted in historical fact.” (Modern Library Paperback Classics, $17.95).

The Year of the Genome: A Diary of the Biological Revolution by Gerald Weissmann ’50. This collection of brief essays, most written for the e-journal Praxis Post, range from a discussion of potentially harmful interactions of herbs and prescription drugs to a meditation on the dangers of an anthrax outbreak following the 9/11 terrorist attacks (Henry Holt and Company, $26).

Toilet Trained for Yale: Adventures in 21st-Century Parenting by Ralph Schoenstein ’53. A parent, grandparent and comedy writer brings his humor and personal experience to this scathing look at out-of-control parenting that gets children worked up to attend the wrong Ivy League college (Perseus Press, $20).

Living a Life That Matters: Resolving the Conflict Between Conscience and Success by Harold S. Kushner ’56. Practical advice and inspiring stories that encourage us to satisfy our natural craving for significance by doing good; from the celebrated author of When Bad Things Happen to Good People (Knopf, $22).

Journey to the Heavenly Mountain: An American’s Pilgrimage to the Heart of Buddhism in Modern China by Jay Martin ’56. One man’s expedition to sacred spaces in the People’s Republic and conversations with ordinary Chinese people fosters a new appreciation of Buddhist monasticism in modern China and the diversity of Buddhism’s many adepts (Hohm Press, $16.95 paper).

Sam’s Legacy by Neil D. Bramwell ’57. In this whodunit for readers of all ages, Aunt Julie must leave her Greenwich Village home to solve two murders and figure out who is after Sam (XLibris, $30.99 cloth, $20.99 paper).

Paul Robeson: Essays on His Life and Legacy, edited by Joseph Dorinson ’58 and William Pencak. Originally presented at a 1998 conference at Long Island University, these essays discuss the life and enduring significance of the actor, entertainer, author and Law School graduate, who was arguably the most prominent African-American of the first half of the 20th century (McFarland & Company, $45).

The Enduring Vision of Norman Mailer by Barry H. Leeds ’62. The Central Connecticut State University professor’s second volume on the iconic and iconoclastic American author focuses on his more recent novels and essays and is as much a celebration as literary critique (Pleasure Boat Studio, $18 paper).

The Plays of Shakespeare: A Thematic Guide by Victor L. Cahn ’69. This guide focuses on 35 recurring themes in the Bard’s opus, the key characters for whom the themes are most important and the implications of these themes for our understanding of his seminal plays (Greenwood Publishing, $19.95).

Jewish Songs for Classical Guitar, arranged by Fred Fastow ’69, edited by Jeffrey Van. This collection of sheet music for 25 Sabbath, holiday and folk songs has a companion CD with the songs performed by the arranger (Transcontintental Music Publications, $19.95 paper, $16.95 CD).

KidsHealth Guide for Parents: Pregnancy to Age 5 by Steven A. Dowshen, Neil Izenberg ’72 and Elizabeth Bass. The team behind the highly successful KidsHealth Web site brings readers a comprehensive, jargon-free guide that covers everything from “baby basics” to discipline issues with toddlers (Contemporary Books, $19.95 paper).

After the End: Representations of Post-Apocalypse by James Berger ’76. A study of the pervasive post-apocalyptic sensibility in recent American culture and the ways in which real historical catastrophes have shaped perceptions of what reality will be like in the future; from an associate professor of English at Hofstra University (University of Minnesota Press, $18.95 paper).

Inside Oscar 2 by Damien Bona ’77. From the epic Braveheart through the epic Gladiator, this second unauthorized compilation of Academy Award memories captures controversies, personal stories and glamour surrounding the coveted golden statue during 1995–2000 (Ballantine Books, $16 paper).

What Are the Chances? Voodoo Deaths, Office Gossip & Other Adventures in Probability by Bark K. Holland ’77. Surprising examples, ranging from the Roman Senator Cicero to a Beatrice, Neb., church in 1950, demonstrate the wonder and versatility of probability and statistics in action (Johns Hopkins University Press, $24.95).

Method by Mark Salerno ’78. One reviewer described this collection of sonnets about love and other themes as “highly charged lyrics of daily life”; from the editor of Arshile: A Magazine of the Arts (The Figures, $10 paper).

The Last Automat by Lou Orfanella ’82. This 48-page volume of poems, in one critic’s words, combines “strong, vivid imagery with a genuine human strength” (Argonne House Press, $9 paper).

Snap to Grid: A User’s Guide to Digital Arts, Media, and Cultures by Peter Lunenfeld ’84. A self-described “idiosyncratic guide to the interactive, telematic era,” a study of the trajectories that digital media has traced on the cultural imagination, and a meditation on electronic media’s relationship with more traditional forms of media (The MIT Press, $32.95 cloth, $16.95 paper).

The Hand of the Poet: Poems and Papers in Manuscript, edited by Rodney Phillips, with Susan Benesch ’86, Kenneth Benson and Barbara Bergeron. Columbia poets featured in this volume, based on a New York Public Library exhibition on the craft of poetry, include Jack Kerouac ’44, Allen Ginsberg ’48 and Professor of English and Comparative Literature Kenneth Koch (Rizzoli Books, $40).

The Best of Animals by Lauren Grodstein ’97. The 10 short stories in this collection, the author’s first book, chronicle teens and twentysomethings who are struggling with the onset of adulthood and a world infused with pop culture (Persea Books, $23.95).

In Old Virginia: Slavery, Farming and Society in the Journal of John Walker by Claudia L. Bushman, adjunct professor of history. A microhistory of a Virginia farming community, based on 43 years of journals by a local planter who lost status when he became a Methodist, started raising wheat instead of tobacco and began treating his slaves as people (Johns Hopkins University Press, $42.50).

A Princely Imposter: The Strange and Universal History of the Kumar of Bhawal by Partha Chatterjee, visiting professor of anthropology. The first study of the claims and significance of the ash-streaked, traveling holy man, who residents of eastern British Bengal proclaimed in 1921 as the Second Kumar of Bhawal, a man believed to have died 12 years earlier (Princeton University Press, $65 cloth, $19.95 paper).

War, Institutions, and Social Change in the Middle East, edited by Steven Heydemann, associate professor of political science. This collection is an attempt to understand the role of war preparation and war making on states and societies in the troubled Middle East (University of California Press, $60 cloth, $29.55 paper).

Conflict and Tradeoffs in Decision Making, edited by Elke U. Weber, professor of psychology, Jonathan Baron and Graham Loomes. The contributors to this collection demonstrate how conflict not only is crucial for decision making but also plays a role in the development of emotion, especially of regret (Cambridge University Press, $64.95).

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